Bracton, HenryDe

, a celebrated English lawyer
in the thirteenth century, was, according to Mr. Prince,
born in Devonshire; and studied at Oxford, where he took
the degree of LL. D. Applying himself afterwards to the
study of the laws of England, he rose to great eminence at
the bar; and, in 1244, was by king Henry III. made one
of the judges itinerant. At present he is chiefly known by
his learned work, “Delegibus et consuetudinibus Angliae,”
the first printed edition of it was in 1569, folio, Jn 1640
it was printed in 4to, and great pains was taken to collate
various Mss. One of the most authentic manuscripts of
this work was burnt in the fire which consumed a part of
the Cotton library, Oct. 23, 1731. It is a finished and
systematic performance, giving a complete view of the law
in all its titles, as it stood at the time it was written. It is
divided into five books, and these into tracts and chapters.
Consistently with the extensiveness and regularity of the
plan, the several parts of it are filled with a curious and
accurate detail of legal learning, so that the reader
ever fails of deriving instruction or amusement from the
|
study of this scientific treatise on our ancient laws, and
customs. It is written in a style much beyond the generality of the writers of that age; being though not always
polished, yet sufficiently clear, expressive, and nervous.
The excellence of Bracton’s style must be attributed to
his acquaintance with the writings of the Roman lawyers
and canonists, from whom likewise he adopted greater
helps than the language in which he wrote. Many of
those pithy sentences which have been handed down from
him as rules and maxims of our law, are to be found in the
volumes of the imperial and pontifical jurisprudence. The
familiarity with which Bracton recurs to the Roman code
has struck many readers more forcibly than any other part
of his character; and some have thence pronounced a
hasty judgment upon his fidelity as a writer upon the
English law. It seems, indeed, to be a fashion to discredit
Bracton, on a supposition of his having mingled too much
of the civilian and canonist with the common lawyer; any
notion that has got into vogue on such a subject is likely
to have many to retail it, and few to examine its justness.
Among others who have most decidedly declared against
Bracton, we find M. Houard, the Norman advocate: this
gentleman was at the pains to give an edition of Glanville,
Jb’leta, and Britton but has omitted Bracton, because his
writings had corrupted the law of England. But his conceptions about the purity of the law of England have seduced him into a very singular theory. He lays it down
that Littleton’s tenures exhibit the system introduced by
William the Conqueror in all its genuine purity; that this
system was corrupted by a mixture from other polities in
the writings of Britton, Fleta, and Glanville, but more
particularly in those of Bracton. Full of this preposterous
idea, he published an edition of Littleton, with a commentary, and, to decide the point without more debate, has
entitled it “Anciennes Loix des Francois.” After this,
the admirers of Bracton will not apprehend much from this
determined enemy to his reputation as an English lawyer.

The value set on this work soon after its publication is
evinced by the treatises of Britton, and Fleta, which are
nothing more than appendages to Bracton. The latter was
intended as an epitome of that author; and the merit of
the former is confined to the single office of supplying
some few articles that had been touched lightly by him,
with the addition of the statutes made since he wrote. In
| after-times he continued the great treasure of our ancient
jurisprudence. Thus was Bracton deservedly looked up
to as the first source of legal knowledge, even so low
down as the days of lord Coke, who seems to have made
this author his guide in all his inquiries into the foundation
of our law. 1

This text has been generated using commercial OCR software,
and there are still many problems; it is slowly getting better
over time.
The text was scanned and OCRd several times, and
a majority version of each line of text was chosen.
Please don't reuse the content
(e.g. do not post to wikipedia)
without asking liam
at holoweb dot net first (mention the colour of your socks in the mail),
because I am still working on fixing errors.
Thanks!